Flyers' Travis Konecny out Saturday vs. Islanders as healthy scratch

Sportsnet Staff @SportsnetJanuary 30, 2021 - 5:17pm

Watch as Travis Konecny takes a great pass from Oskar Lindblom and streaks in on the breakaway before slipping the puck five-hole on Carter Hutton.

Philadelphia Flyers forward Travis Konecny will be a healthy scratch against the New York Islanders on Saturday night, Flyers coach Alain Vigneault told reporters.

Calls him one of their best three forwards, and he's doing some things right, but that 5v5 play isn't where it needs to be as a team, and TK's 5v5 play needs to be better. Had a convo with him this morning about it.

— Charlie O'Connor (@charlieo_conn) January 30, 2021

Vigneault spoke to Konecny about being scratched on Saturday morning. He called Konecny one of the team’s three best forwards, but noted that his play needs to improve in 5-on-5 scenarios.

“I’ve been talking to the players about it for some time, areas we need to be better at, areas that we have been good at in the past,” Vigneault said. “(Konecny) is the one tonight who is not going to play. His 5-on-5 game needs to be better in the areas that he’s aware of.”

One more on Vigneault, when asked if it was hard to sit Konecny in a big game like this or if it was time to send a message to the player and the group pic.twitter.com/k4MhoQZSQP

— Adam Kimelman (@NHLAdamK) January 30, 2021

Konecny is tied for the team lead in goals (five) and is tied for second in points (eight) through eight games this season. The Flyers’ first round pick in 2015 is also tied for the team lead in plus/minus rating (plus-five).

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